How do you trust people with your work?

This is a pretty serious topic, as opposed to the random nonsense we sometimes find clogging up the Day Chat, so I don't know how this thread is going to go. It would be awesome if it went like people posting seriously if they wanted to join the conversation and not posting if they didn't, but we'll see.

I've always had a lot of trust issues in general, mostly probably stemming back to my father who would make me promises left and right and hardly ever keep a single one. But those things aside, I find myself very cautious trying to work with folks on my cartoons and FredtheMonkey.com. With animation (or a business in general) you have to relinquish so much control to get anything done in a reasonable amount of time. The thing is, you're ALWAYS going to be more passionate about what you create than someone else. You're the one who created it. It's your baby. So other people who work with you aren't going to care as much. It's just how it works.

I guess my struggle is how to take that leap when I've been burned so many times before. Again and again I've tried to hire or get people to help with Fred stuff, only to have them never make deadlines. There are exceptions, of course. A few FAA members were really on the ball most of the time. But to be honest, I didn't give them as much stuff to do as I probably needed, mostly again because of those trust issues I suppose. And there were a bunch of FAA members in the beginning that didn't do bubkis and missed deadlines constantly. That was really tricky, because how do you fire volunteers? I was lucky because most of them quit almost immediately and the more reliable ones stayed on. I think we had like 8 or 9 at first, and at least three never did a single thing.

Anyway, I just thought I'd post my struggle with this issue and see if anyone else has any insight as to how they deal with it (or don't deal with it, like me). I end up pretty much just taking everything on my own shoulders and that's a heavy weight to carry all the time. I don't think I'll be able to have a big time studio doing everything myself...

I believe this is the wrong place to talk about such things. Also, you sound kinda weird.

You're asking a bunch of teenage boys about this. We don't share work (except the occasional homework exercise).

But, from what I've seen on MSPA, Andrew Hussie only ever seems to get help when he's making something big, to reach deadlines sooner. By that I mean, he occasionally has some people submit art to be used in Flashes, (twice now, he has, and some of them are really amazing) and always has other people do the music (which is an excellent idea, it gives so much variety and awesomeness).
The backlash to that is that he does get protective sometimes. And any problems that he has with the Art or Music teams, he sorts it out strictly business-like. A few people have left the music teams, one person causing quite a ruckus when leaving.
You might think that's bad, but really, I think it's good. He works for his story, and if people aren't on the same frequency of work, and disagree with his methods, then he can't work with them (otherwise he'd be working against them).
But Homestuck is a story. An adventure, literally. It's a universe.
Thing with FTM, you need to ask yourself; Are you telling a story, or are you just entertaining?

Yeah, I'd imagine everyone has worked with people at some point, whether it be in school or a business. And if you've been a part of some school project and given it your all and the people who are supposed to be on your team don't try, it's frustrating.

As far as FtM, I'm pretty sure at the moment it's just about entertaining. I'll get to more story-like stuff later.

If people aren't pulling there weight, I tell them to fu ck the hell off. Sorted.

if i ever gave someone else work to do, i wouldn't be happy with it.
i wouldn't want to make compromises, or think I could do a better job.

so, i would want someone who's experienced, or actually really really good at animating.

so I dunno

-JKR- wrote:

I end up pretty much just taking everything on my own shoulders and that's a heavy weight to carry all the time

It's something you chose to do yourself, if you choose complain every day about it, might as well quit. If its what you truely love doing as you claim, why would you have complaints?

As for the trust issue itself, I'm not sure what to say. Ftm isn't too well known, combined with the fact they have no say in anyting, maybe your laborers just don't feel they are best using their time contributing to something like that.

prplmonkey wrote:

-JKR- wrote:

I end up pretty much just taking everything on my own shoulders and that's a heavy weight to carry all the time

It's something you chose to do yourself, if you choose complain every day about it, might as well quit. If its what you truely love doing as you claim, why would you have complaints?

I DON'T have any real complaints when I take everything on myself. It's difficult. CRAZY difficult. But I do love it s much as I claim to, so I'll keep doing it. My real problem lies in when I ask for help and get it, but then those helpers don't come through. Some I've paid even. Like I said, it's just more that I'll always care a lot more than anyone else will about stuff like FtM, so it's a struggle for me to rely on other people who don't care as much.

Especially when I'm counting on them to get something done on time, and it isn't done on time (or correctly). In those cases I'm the one who's screwed because I'm the one in charge.